Heavy metal stained structures may be viewed beneath cell and tissue surfaces by backscattered electron imaging (BEI) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). A quantitative physical model for BEI predicts that stained structures may be viewed at greater depths with improved image resolution and contrast by employing a greater beam accelerating voltage (40 to 100 keV) than that commonly used for SEM. The physical model carries the implication that a backscattered quantitative microanalysis may be feasible. BE detector strategies will be reassessed in view of the greater expected variance in efficiencies among BE detector types for the 40 to 100 keV range. The enhanced capability for analyzing cell structure and function will be applied to studies of: (a) the vacuolar apparatus of the sinusoidal endothelium in liver and bone marrow; (b) mitotic events in limb bud subepithelial mesenchymal cells; (c) mitotic and meiotic chromosome studies in yeast and grasshopper testis; and (d) the effect of somatic spine proliferation on the synaptic architecture of neuropil gangliosidosis.